There’s plenty of blame to go around after the Baltimore Ravens blew a 15-point lead in the fourth quarter in a shocking loss to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday night. While Baltimore’s defense and Derrick Henry deserve some of it, one culprit played a much bigger role than expected in the Ravens’ downfall.
If not for an ill-timed cramp, the Ravens might have gone for it on a crucial fourth-and-3 with just 1:33 remaining in the contest. Instead, the Ravens punted the ball back to Josh Allen, who charged down the field to set up Matt Prater for the game-winning field goal, giving the Bills the 41-40 win.
Advertisement
It was a curious decision at the time. Knowing that Allen is capable of ripping any defense to shreds in seconds, why would the Ravens — who employ both Lamar Jackson and Henry — decide to play it cautious in the game’s biggest moment?
[Get more Baltimore news: Ravens team feed]
Turns out, Jackson was cramping. After the contest, he said that was the reason he didn’t try to convince head coach John Harbaugh to go for it on fourth down.
“I was cramping, so that’s why I pretty much jogged off the field,” Jackson said. “If I wasn’t, I believe everyone in here know I would have been trying to go for it [on] fourth-and-3.”
Advertisement
It was a disappointing explanation for why the Ravens played it safe on the most important play of the game. While a fourth-and-3 is far from an automatic conversion in the NFL, even the analytics believed going for it was the right call.
Harbaugh explains decision, backs Ravens defense
On Monday, Harbaugh acknowledged Jackson’s condition regarding his decision to send the punt unit out during a pressure-packed situation with the play clock running down.
“Lamar was coming off the field at that point, I could see something wasn’t quite right,” Harbaugh said. “And you’ve got to get your punt team out there. It’s a fast sequence of events in that moment.”
Advertisement
He also stood up for his defense, telling reporters “I’m not shying away from putting our defense out there.”
“And then again, too, I’m not shying away from putting our defense out there,” Harbaugh continued. “If you get stopped on fourth-and-3, did you think about punting the ball and putting your defense out there and giving them a chance to win the game? That would have been the next conversation, because they’d have been in field-goal range already.
“I trust our defense. And I’m going to trust our defense this year in a lot of big situations. Because our defense is going to be really, really good. I know there’s doubt about that right now, probably. But I guarantee you our defense is gonna play really good football this year.”
Following the loss, the Ravens need to find a way to regroup after another back-breaking defeat at the hands of the Bills.
While Baltimore shouldn’t dwell too much on losing to another excellent team, it should carry forward one important lesson from the collapse. The next time the Ravens are facing a crucial short-yardage fourth down with the game on the line, they need to go for it, even if their best player is cramping.
